Armagh won’t get any sympathy at Healy Park

Long gone are the days when Armagh and Tyrone knew that beating the other guaranteed a trophy.

Over a decade ago, these fiercest of Ulster rivals played out their domestic disputes on a national stage as the rest of the country looked on with fascination and disgust.

The gripping All-Ireland semi-final in 2005 which followed two memorable Ulster finals in Croke Park, three games far superior in quality to their 2003 All-Ireland final meeting, was the summer the rivalry reached its zenith. Between 1999 and 2010 no other county got a look-in when it came to the Ulster championship, but the pair’s iron grip on the Anglo Celt loosened after Tyrone’s 2010 victory.